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Photo Comparison: BMW 6 Series GT vs Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class

This may very well be the battle of ugliness. I’m sure both of these are good cars, cars that are comfortable, luxurious, built well and perform well. But Sweet Fancy Moses are both these cars ugly. The BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo looks like Quasimodo and the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class has so few body lines it looks like a plucked bird. Nevertheless, both of these cars are going to be decent-volume sellers, even if they don’t exactly compete with one another. So let’s take a loot at which one looks better.

From the front, neither of these cars are terrible. The BMW 6 Series GT looks like a 5 Series from the front, so there’s really nothing out of the ordinary there. It looks good and fine and safe. The CLS-Class looks like a Mercedes-Benz from the front, just with oddly small and squinty headlights. While almost all current Mercedes’ look great from the front, the CLS-Class is the familial outlier. It’s not terrible, just weird. Something just looks off about it. This may be the only decided win in this comparison, as the BMW’s face is distinctly better, even if it’s not spectacular itself.

In profile, this one is tough. The BMW 6 Series GT has a sort of hunchback look to it but at least it’s visually interesting and has some sculpted body lines that make it look muscular. The Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class has a sweeping roofline that could make the car look sexy if it weren’t for the complete lack of body lines or any surface details. It looks like Mercedes designers took a wood planer to the side of the car and shaved it smooth. There’s literally one body line and it’s toward the bottom of the doors but it’s not enough. It looks unfinished. Still, the 6 Series’ hunchback rear and dumpy butt aren’t really much better. Gonna call this one a wash.

Out back, it’s also pretty evenly bad. The 6er’s butt is lumpy and tall and features oddly shaped taillights. But the CLS-Class’ rump looks like a cartoonish sad face, with the taillights as droopy eyes and the body line over the license plate as the frowny mouth. It’s mind-blowing to me that both a Mercedes and BMW designer could go, “Ja, das ist gut” to either of these cars. I really can’t decide between them.

What’s even crazier is that the interiors of both cars are great. Seriously. The 6 Series’ is pretty typical BMW and that’s very good. The CLS-Class is very typical Mercedes and that’s also very good. Both features luxurious designs, superb build quality and impressive technology. No one will be upset sitting in either of these cars for hours at a time. Personally, I think Mercedes’ design is better but BMW’s tech is much better. So this is, again, a wash.

Being that in almost every way, these two cars are pretty equally weird looking, while being equally beautiful inside (is that a metaphor for the both of them?). However, the BMW takes the win, as the 6 Series GT’s mug is better than the oddly anime-looking CLS-Class. Also, the 6 Series GT’s odd design is functional, as it’s meant to be more practical and accommodating than the standard 5 Series or 7 Series. So you can understand why it looks like that. The CLS-Class is literally designed to be sexy and stylish and it’s neither of those things. So the winner of this design comparison is the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo. I never thought I’d say that.